


the samurai racer

by Rangerfan58



Category: F-Zero (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 02:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 9,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11476878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangerfan58/pseuds/Rangerfan58





	1. Chapter 1

well a person came out of the drivers seat of the car waving their hand in the air with a smile on their face

"and so six years after returning to the minor leagues Maria has finally won the coveted award for the most wins in the minor league, after everyone thought she would never race again here she is winning such a prestigious award"

suddenly though Maria had trouble breathing and quickly brought out a bag and took out a device and switched it out for the broken one and soon enough she was breathing ok again. What not many people knew was that the device was the reason why she wasn't in major F-Zero races, that one device that allowed her to breath kept her from her previous career because the league just didn't want to risk her getting killed in those races. What even fewer people knew was that Jody Summers of a special police taskforce had been following Maria for the past year ever since she decided to look for recruits in the minor leagues and had learned about the accident that almost killed her, forcing her into the minor leagues in the first place.

"she's good, but still who managed to get in here with a gun?, that shouldn't be possible it just shouldn't be, not after Andy..." (sighs) "I think I'll approach Maria at the coffee shop that should help keep her calm...I hope"

three hours later the two were at the coffee shop and Maria was actually having lunch

"nice race out there"

"thanks but what I really want is to race in the major leagues again"

"why can't you?"

"remember how the announcer mentioned a return to racing after everyone thought I wouldn't?"

"yes"

"well you see, about eight years ago I was in a terrible accident that crushed my chest, it took a long surgery and even then the doctors found that the damage was too severe to really fix, so they worked on a radical solution that if successful would save my life and allow me freedom to live outside of a hospital. They inserted a specially designed chest tube that would send air to my lungs through a device outside of my body, it's actually clipped to my side, and the device would be able to tell when I was breathing in and out to appropriately give me oxygen from the outside world. It took a full year of physical therapy for me to be able to properly walk and breath again and another year convincing the league to let me race again, and part of my convincing them involved races against fellow professional racers who hadn't had to take time off like I had"

"um why did you have to relearn to walk?"

"oh the crash completely shattered my right leg and broke my left ankle"

"ah and the main concern was you breathing so the leg and ankle were secondary concerns to that"

"exactly"

"how long did they wait until they took care of your leg and ankle?"

"well, once I was on a ventilator while they worked on the device on my waist they x-rayed the leg and ankle and put a simple cast on the ankle, the leg on the other hand...lets just say it took multiple surgeries to fix it and leave it at that"

"will do"

well Jody decides to speak up just then because of the fact that the conversation was starting to get into things that Jody  _knew_  Maria was uncomfortable with

"well Maria Hanslaw I've been watching you race for the past year"

(sarcastically) "really now? I never would've guessed, after all that's practically the only thing the league's been doing since my return six years ago"

"actually I've been watching you in a good way, I want you on my team"

Maria looks at Jody and recognizes her as the police force racing team

"it'll never happen Ms. Summers"

"why not?"

"easy, when I said the league's been watching me I mean really watching me, every time I've tried to enter the major league under a false name they get me before the race even starts and punishes me by taking the pole position from me for the next several races"

"so you're essentially saying that they'll never go for it"

"yep and what's worse is that they have a second reason to hold me in the minor leagues, I have samurai training"

"meaning that they'll want you to be in the minor leagues should there be trouble"

"exactly"

"I don't get why they're keeping you in the minor leagues when you clearly belong in the majors. And yes I have been looking into your profile because of the fact that I want you"

"then you know exactly why they're keeping me, and I know for a fact that you heard me tell this lady over here my story"

"well it doesn't matter that your chest got crushed or that you have samurai training to me, what matters is that you're a good racer who has great potential that you're not showing"

"so you figured out that I was holding back"

"figured it out first race I ever saw you in, today when the announcer mentioned the crash it became obvious to others that you're better then it seems"

"actually he  _didn't_ mention the crash just that I had returned to the minor leagues six years ago"

Jody thinks back for a moment

"got me there but still I know you're holding back"

"because the first time I raced after re-qualifying all the racers complained that they never had a chance against me"

"that should've let the league know you belong in my category"

"oh it let them know I remember how to race alright the problem is is my device on my chest plus my samurai training"

"so we've come full circle on the conversation haven't we? I want you on my team but the league doesn't want you racing in the majors"

"exactly"

"if only I could find a way around that stupid rule the league gave you, after all you deserve to race with pros"

"wait I might have a solution Jody"

"what is it Maria?"

"easy, I join your team however...I stay with the minor leagues and keep an eye out for trouble there"

"I get it that ways you're staying within the league rules, which are stupid by the way, and still able to help us out as part of the team"

"exactly"

"and in the meantime I'll work on finally getting you back to pros"

"I appreciate it thanks"


	2. Chapter 2

"one more thing, I think that for now only I should know about you so I won't be able to give you a symbol of our team"

"it's ok better to have an ace up your sleeve in case things go wrong then to reveal all your players and have no one able to back you up when the time is right"

"exactly, though I will give you a special badge for when the time comes"

"got it"

well a few weeks later the team had a big race right after the minor leagues and they decided to join Jody in team hunting so they got there early instead of the time given to them. Early on in the race they found Maria's secret about hiding her skills out and decided that they wanted her...bad

"Jody she's hiding her true skills, can't we get her on our team somehow?"

(groans) "I've been trying for the past few weeks now so far, no go"

suddenly though there attention shifted big time because of a sudden announcement by a new criminal organization

"if the drivers go below green seven or about yellow nine they'll explode"

inside Maria's car

"blast it, who's made the threat?"

"the Mesanic Brothers"

"those guys are back?"

she thinks back to shortly after her samurai training was over with and what she had heard of them. She also remembered that they had supposedly been defeated and either integrated into society if they weren't too far along in there training, or they were put in maximum security prisons with triple locks on their cryosuspension generators. She then asks the officials where the bombs were and quickly gets her answer

"oh great it's on the passenger side of the car, just perfect" (under her breath) "so much for my sword"

she then thinks about the pro race later that day

"what about the professional racers cars are they ok?"

"we're checking them now and also keeping a guard, just in case"

communications are cut and the Maria thinks up a great plan, that she has to run by her superior first

"wait that's it! I can use my spare breathing devices to keep the speed up while I use my sword. Once I get the device off my car I can easily get the other cars as well...if Jody goes for it"

she quickly gets on her key phone given to her by Jody

"Jody are you there?"

meanwhile Jody's team were also trying to think up a plan when Jody's communicator went off

"I'm here Maria what's up?"

"I assume you and the rest of the team heard the same announcement we did?"

"yes why?"

"well I just got an idea that I think will work"

"what is it?"

"I use my breathing device on the gas and break to keep it as even as possible while I use my sword to get the bomb off my car. Once the bomb is off my car, I then use the sword on all the other cars and do the same thing for them"

"if you take off your device you'll die"

"Jody did you forget that I carry spares?"

Jody thinks back for a minute

"guess I did sorry"

"it's ok, the association made it a requirement, which I went with because it make sense"

"anyways as long as you use the spares your plan is approved, good luck Maria"

"thanks I'll need it"

and with that the two hang up and Rick asks the question everyone was thinking

"Jody, who was that?"

"that everyone was Maria Hanslaw, she's been on the team for the past few weeks, actually the last time I went to a minor league race I recruited her"

Lucy speaks up

"what does she mean by using her sword and why does she have a breathing device?"

"for the sword she's a samurai and as for the device...look up a race about eight years ago with her name and you'll find out most if not all of what you need"

then Jack speaks up

"not that I'm not interested in our new team member also but don't we have a criminal organization to research"

everyone speaks up after that

"right"

while that was going on Maria finally managed to get the device off her car and had started to get the device off the other cars as well. Fifteen minutes later everything had finally settled and someone else won the race but at least no one got hurt in the process. Well unless one counted how sore Maria's shoulder was from all the activity it had recently done, plus the association had  _finally_  realized that Maria simply didn't belong in the minor leagues, but they also decided that if she didn't show her full potential in the pros she would be bumped back down to pros probably permanently


	3. Chapter 3

while that was going on Maria finally managed to get the device off her car and had started to get the device off the other cars as well. Fifteen minutes later everything had finally settled and someone else won the race but at least no one got hurt in the process. Well unless one counted how sore Maria's shoulder was from all the activity it had recently done, plus the association had  _finally_  realized that Maria simply didn't belong in the minor leagues, but they also decided that if she didn't show her full potential in the pros she would be bumped back down to pros probably permanently. An hour later it was time form Jody's team and the rest of the pros to race and Maria cheered her heart out for them and Jack won the race only because of the fact that the others weren't quite up to speed that race but hey it happens. After the pro race

"good job Jack in winning the race"

"thanks Maria"

the association came up then

"first of all, Jack Levin congratulations on winning the race second of all Maria Hanslaw we need to talk to you real quick in private"

they go to a private area

"we've made a decision about Jody's request, and we've decided that you can be part of the team but if you don't show your full potential you're back in the minor leagues permanently"

"understood sir"

and with that she goes back to the team to tell them the good news and to celebrate, Jack's win. Three hours later they were at headquarters and that's when Maria drops the bombshell on them

"hey guys, before we sleep we need to talk about something"

"what is it?"

"I um, I know about the Mesanic Brothers"

"how?"

"as you probably know from Jody I have samurai training, what you  _don't_  know is that it was my group that defeated the Mesanic Brothers last time and retrained the ones that didn't have full training and  _could_  be retrained, and those that couldn't were put into cryo with triple locks on there generators"

"why was your group the one that defeated them anyways?"

"because Rick...it was my group that formed the Mesanic Brothers in the first place"

everyone there was shocked and at the same time


	4. Chapter 4

"WHAT?!"

"how is that possible Maria?"

"simple Jody because the Mesanic Brothers split off from the Red Halls"

"so the only reason why your group took them down was because you knew them"

"pretty much, now then don't forget that this happened a few years before I began my training so everything I learned is from the survivors of the battle"

"wait survivors?"

(sighs) "yes, according to the elders the final battle was so hard that over half the Red Halls were lost and two thirds of the Mesanic Brothers were lost"

"ouch that's a lot of people"

"indeed it was and there's more"

"what else could there be?"

"before the last of the ones who couldn't be retrained was taken away for cryo they made a promise to one day return and have their revenge against the Red Halls"

"so why haven't they done anything yet?"

"that's the thing Lucy, they might just've done what they promised three days ago"

"what do you mean?"

(sighs) "three days ago I tried to report to the elders. Because I'm a racer I don't live with the clan, sort of like Samurai Goro except I don't think any of his clan is alive anymore. Anyways I am required every two months to let the clan elders know that I'm alive and continuing my regular training that one does should they be away from the group for long periods of time. I tried reporting in three days ago and I couldn't get anybody on the radio, I left a message just in case everyone was outside training because it does happen. However I should've gotten a return message by at least yesterday morning, that is the latest anyone can report in or return a message before being declared MIA"

"and for being declared a rogue?"

"there are slightly stricter requirements"

"like what?"

"either you declare your intentions of going rogue, and when I mean rogue I do  _not_  mean leaving the group to teach others what you have been taught, or someone in the clan witnesses you doing something that make you a rogue through your actions"

"how long until your declared dead?"

"the clan either has to wait a full year of no sightings, or they have definitive proof of your death"

"and if your found amnesic?"

"they either hope you regain your memories by bringing you back to where you trained or, if that doesn't work then they just leave you be to hopefully regain your memories on your own. But if you are left to regain your memories on your own hopefully, they have someone always looking in on you, sort of like a guard and if the main guard is sent on  
assignment, then the rest of the clan that is traveling are to keep an eye out for you and report whenever you see them"

"so your whole clan is MIA right now?"

"yes Lucy, the whole clan is MIA"

two days later they would find out that it was  _not_  the case as they thought. They were at another planet to race when someone called Maria's name


	5. Chapter 5

"Maria?"

Maria turns and sees one of the younger people in the clan

"John what is it?"

"they're dead Maria, the entire clan is dead"

(shocked whisper) "what?" (louder) "how do you know they're dead John?"

"I came home from a mission the day after you left your message for them and found everyone including the elders slaughtered and the equipment almost completely in ruins"

"and the living facilities?"

"in the same state as the rest of the place, the only reason I know when you left your message is because of the fact that we have a hidden recording device that they had no knowledge of" (slightly quieter) "that's how I knew you were probably still alive"

"do you know who all was on a mission John?"

"besides you?, there was no one on a mission Maria because of the fact that we were all to be on planet for the anniversary of the final battle"

"and I'm the only exception to that rule because of my racing career"

"exactly, and as you know we also have no one amnesic that needs to be watched either"

(sighs) "I know, I saw the obituary on the final amnesic person who hadn't regained their memories the day before I tried to report in"

Jody decides to speak up then

"forgive me for interrupting but just how did you know Maria would be here John?"

John hesitates to answer her

"it's OK John, she's my new boss, I'm finally back in the pros and she's team captain"

"I looked up where the next F-Zero race was being held and when and once I had that information I came here"

"well, you always were the best of your group at information gathering, do you know who killed the clan?"

"yes I do it was them, the Mesanic Brothers"

"did you find out how they escaped cryo?"

"yep, turns out that the facility was broken into by a petty criminal who had escaped police custody and had just wanted to create a distraction for him to escape. They caught the petty crook but unfortunately the damage was already done and the police have yet to capture the Mesanic Brothers, you heard the stories just as I did"

"yeah I have, they're too good to be caught by police"

"and we're the only ones left of the Red Hall so we can't do a thing to stop them either"

Rick speaks up this time


	6. Chapter 6

"John how good of a mechanic are you?"

"well I wouldn't say I could beat your mechanic but all Red Hall members have to at least be level one mechanics in case of field repairs being needed on your ship or vehicle"

"OK Maria why didn't you tell us that?"

"two reasons, a you didn't ask me and b our mechanic is much better, when John says field repairs he means field repairs, level one mechanics for us means trying to do a  
patch job that'll last until you get the vehicle to a real mechanic, and even then we sometimes can't even do that if the problem is serious enough"

"she's right Jody, I can't tell you how many times I've done a patch job and it didn't last long enough to get to a mechanic"

"you can't be serious"

"oh we're dead serious Jody, the only thing that we can fix without a doubt is radios because that's our only means of calling for help if it's needed"

"Maria?"

"it's true Jody, who do you think has been maintaining the radio lately?"

"all right you've made your point, now my point is that right now I don't think you two should be split up"

"you mean..."

"exactly if I can get it approved by the boss I'll get you on my team, I'll even pay for mechanic school so you can learn and help out much more then just patch jobs"

"Maria?"

"you can go for it John, let's face it now that the clan is dead the Red Halls no longer has any mechanics which we'll need"

"you don't mean?..."

"yes John I do, once you've finished school we're going back to the planet and getting what Red Halls equipment we can salvage to use for our new job"

she thinks for a few minutes and then adds something else

"but in the meantime, before we can salvage our equipment and you go to mechanic school I have a mission for you should you accept, but be warning it's a time critical mission"

John immediately stands at attention

"your mission is to head to earth and destroy our newest base before it can be discovered by the Mesanic Brothers"

"understood how much time do I have?"

"three days John, we'll be back on earth in three days"

"should I inform those that left the Red Halls that we'll need them back to fight the Mesanic Brothers?"

"no, normally we would inform them of their return and ask if they want to help but they should not be put at risk this time"

"but why? you know the laws regarding this situation"

"and as leader of the clan I'm calling that specific law null and void as of this moment"

"why?"

(sighs) "John listen to me real closely, I travel a bit more then you do as an F-Zero racer right?"

"yes it's sort of required of you"

"right now then a few weeks ago right after a race I was sent to a special meeting where samurai clans meet and talk about trouble in the galaxy and other things like what we should do if a member of another clan accidentally stumbles onto another clans property, or if one finds a fellow samurai in trouble. Now then I know all of the people who have  
left the Red Halls to start up their own little group and I didn't see them so I asked around. Turns out that during their own meeting to discuss if they should return to the clan or stay separate there was an attack. John the main reason why I've declared that specific law null and void is because of the fact that everyone is dead, I just found out the day before I reported in that the last one died in the hospital from their injuries"

"so we truly are the last of the Red Halls?"

"yes John we are"

"what about the other Samurai clans?"

"hm the meeting isn't again for another year..."

now then the rest of the team didn't quite follow what was going on with clan meetings and what not but they  _did_  know that Samurai clans were typically mercenaries that worked with the police more often then not for free, mainly because of certain meetings that established that code, though the police weren't aware of it. The only time they asked for money was if they needed it and the police knew ahead of time because the clan would mention it before helping the police, either that or if the police knew they were part of a clan and they looked like they were having a bit of trouble at the time they would hire the Samurai for money. So Jody speaks up solving the problem, mainly  
because both John and Maria had forgotten that little fact because of everything else currently going on in their lives

"hey guys I'll just inform my boss to inform the next Samurai that works with us to spread the word about the Mesanic Brothers"

both John and Maria look at Jody strangely for a minute and then remember the code that had been established

"that works, OK John do you accept your mission of destroying our earth base?"

"mission accepted, mainly because since it's the newest it wouldn't be wired to remote detonate yet would it?"

"nope that happens a month after it's fully established"

"right oh by the way I already remote detonated all our other bases"

"perfect then earth is indeed the last one"

and with that John leaves while Jody informs her boss that the Samurai clans would need to be informed about the Mesanic Brothers and the fact that the Red Halls was now defunct with only two members still alive

"understood Jody, how long until you guys are back on earth?"

"since this planet has a double race weekend we're staying until tomorrow, if there's trouble we'll stay longer but of course I'll inform you of that"

"right"

and with that communications were cut. Three hours later on earth Jody's boss heard that someone wanted to speak with him in private

"send them in"

and so the person walks in and takes off their cloak to reveal a member of the Kralsh clan, it was one of the smaller Samurai clans that helped the police but that was because they mostly worked in undercover operations, aka infiltration


	7. Chapter 7

"you wished to see me?"

"yes, I just came to inform you that our undercover man just managed to meet up with one of the clan members and said to pass on the message that the group calling themselves the Light are planning to attack an F-Zero race within the next month and at the same time a police station, other then that we have no idea what they're up to"

"thanks for that information I'll get the word out to police and the rest of the F-Zero association"

the person started to leave

"one more thing"

"yes?"

"the Mesanic Brothers have returned, and have killed all but two members of the Red Halls clan, which Jody, one of my people now calls defunct because of only two survivors"

the clan member is visibly shocked

"Red Halls is gone...they're the biggest clan known"

"apparently the Mesanic Brothers destroyed them"

the clan members eyes narrowed at that information

"the Mesanic Brothers huh?, looks like the Samurai clans have work to do, don't worry sir we'll pass on the information"

and so once the clan member leaves he informs his boss about the fate of the Red Halls clan and about the Mesanic Brothers returning

"those guys again, looks like they got their revenge after all, but why isn't it on galaxy news?"

"who knows either until now they're actions haven't been noticed or if they have attacked other places everyone was ordered to keep it quiet. Boss what are we going to do  
about Red Halls destruction?"

"not much we can do except try and find out who survived and give them our support"

"what I'm wondering is how they survived in the first place"

"same here, ah well we'll probably find out soon enough anyways"

"why's that sir?"

"easy because due to this information an emergency Samurai meeting will be called and it's a mandatory meeting for all clans to come with the majority of their members so long as they aren't out on assignment or training rookies"

"right forgot about that"

and so the word quickly gets out to the rest of the Samurai clans, though it still takes two full days for the information to get to all of them. While that was happening Jody's team won the second race as well this time it was Jack who won and soon they were all back on earth. Two weeks later at HQ


	8. Chapter 8

"so when's the next race?"

"not for another week, looks like the association needs to confirm some things with the planets government about the race or something like that"

"right"

suddenly Maria's special Samurai communicator activates and a message pops up with a person she's seen but never met in person before

"attention all Samurai clans, I am calling an emergency  _gronthal_  for two days from this message being sent, it is mandatory for all clans to send the majority that aren't busy, this meeting will be held on earth in mutant city park, that is all"

Maria looks at the date it was sent which was that very day so she knew she had two days until the meeting. Jody then looks at Maria with a question on her face

"Maria what's that all about?"

"it's probably about what you told the boss a short time ago"

"and what on earth is a  _gronthal_?"

"roughly translated it means full clans meeting"

"why roughly translated?"

"because there was never an exact translation, anyhow you know how I've mentioned that Samurai clans meet once a year unless there's trouble in their area?"

"yes?"

"what you don't know is that the groups are broken up so that everyone isn't in one single area"

"is it like police work where there are different sections of the police?"

"not quite it's more like...let's see in old USA the groups were the FBI, the state police and then the local police, and if the city was large enough the police had multiple precincts to protect the city, the different groups are like those precincts"

"and this meeting?"

"the meeting is sort of like a convention held between countries, or if you prefer like the old United Nations"

"and there's an emergency meeting because of what you told me not too long ago?"

"yes, now then even this meeting isn't normally mandatory for all groups, after all since we're Samurai it's not very practical to make it mandatory because multiple things could come up"

"then why is it mandatory this time?"

"because of the information that has been passed on to the rest of the clans...look Jody you may not fully realize it yet but what happened at the F-Zero race was only the  
beginning, things are about to get much worse before they get better"

"what going on Maria?"

"intergalactic warfare Jody, with the goal of completely taking down a rogue clan that's isn't officially recognized"

two days later it was time for the meeting and while all the clans had a general idea of what was going on they didn't know the full story yet, in fact so that there wasn't panic the Kralsh clan only passed on that the Mesanic Brothers were back and something major had happened to the Red Halls clan. Normally keeping the full truth from the clans  
would've meant that they would no longer be officially recognized as a clan however, because of the fact that Red Halls essentially no longer existed because of the Mesanic Brothers, they were within their rights to withhold that information to keep all clans from panicking at the destruction of one of the largest clans in the group. Finally the meeting got underway with a check to see if all the clans were there, since the meeting was about the Red Halls clan they would be last as was procedure that had been set up years ago. Fifteen minutes later

"Kralsh"

"here"

"and finally the reason why we're all here Red Halls"

"we're here"

the leader frowns and asks a question that was reasonable but not the best of times to ask, after all the two hadn't even had a full month to process their loss and this meeting made it all the more real of what had happened to them

"I thought I said the majority of the clan that wasn't busy, so why are there only two of you?"

(sighs) "what do you know of the situation?"

"just that the Mesanic Brothers have returned and something major happened to the Red Halls clan"

"who passed on the information?"

"the Kralsh clan"

Maria glares at the leader

"you know the laws why didn't you tell the full truth about us?"

(snorts) "and cause a panic? I think not, I already knew the situation would be stressful enough with the return of the Mesanic Brothers without  _that_  spreading amongst the clans as well"

(sighs) "your right as usual" (sighs) "permission to be in front of the entire crowd sir?"

"certainly, so I presume you're the spokesperson?"

"considering the full situation?, yeah I'd say I am"

she gets up on the podium

"well as you've already heard the Mesanic Brothers are back, they attacked at an F-Zero race two...three weeks ago and if not for my Samurai skills could've done serious injury or killed people. What you don't know is that three days before the race I did my mandatory bi-monthly check in and got no answer, which isn't too uncommon, but that wasn't the end of it, I never got a return message by the required time making the entire clan MIA"

everyone was shocked at that and someone from another clan spoke up

"so the entire clan is missing?"

"not quite because it doesn't end there, two days later I was on another planet for a race when another clan member showed up. I now inform you that except for John and I the Red Halls clan has been destroyed"

that shocked everyone even more

"so there are only two survivors of the clan?"

"yes, I survived because of my racing career, John survived because of a mission"

"who destroyed the clan?, we'll get them for this"

"the ones who claimed revenge on the clan so long ago, people the ones who destroyed the Red Halls clan are the same ones we came to meet about today, the Mesanic Brothers"

well that did it that one sentence sent the rest of the group into a frenzy and boy did a lot of things happen at once the Kralsh clan and the rest of the clans withing that section vowed vengeance and discussing making sure their areas were secured, another section talked about going underground and discovering everything they could about the Mesanic Brother's activities and the final group which the Red Halls had been part of took out their blades and made blood vows that the Mesanic Brothers would be stopped no matter the cost. Finally what passed as essentially the Samurai leader took back control and the rest of the meeting was simply discussing plans to take down the Mesanic Brothers and whether or not to integrate the survivors of the Red Halls clan into another smaller clan

"while it has been done in the past I don't feel it's the best option for us"

"why not?"

"simple we work with a police task-force now and being part of another clan would just hinder us, especially because John is also going to Mechanic school to become more then just a class one mechanic for the team"

"she makes a solid point, very well the Red Halls clan is put into reserve status until further notice, hopefully you'll be able to train others in the way of the Red Halls clan and rebuild it"

"perhaps, but only if Jody and her boss approves of it"

what Maria didn't know was that ever since Jody found out she was a Samurai she had been talking to her boss about letting her train them in the ways of the Samurai, especially after she found out that she and John were the last of their clan and the boss actually approved of it, in fact he wanted his security personnel to also be trained in the ways of the Samurai. Once the season was over with he would also allow Maria and John to teach even more people to help rebuild the Red Halls clan. Five hours later at HQ


	9. Chapter 9

"could you repeat that Jody?"

"I said that you have permission to teach the entire team how to be Samurai and also the boss' body guards are going to learn as well. Once the season is over we are to train even more people to help rebuild the Red Halls clan"

"are you absolutely sure about this Jody? I mean training to be a samurai usually takes years, and we're doing this in the midst of racing season"

"we're sure Maria"

John speaks up

"wait Maria, remember when my year had to go through accelerated training because of a sudden flare of criminal activity that the intergalactic police couldn't handle?"

"you're right I do remember that training now, looks like the team is going through accelerated Samurai training but be warned it is  _not_  a pretty sight"

"we understand"

"OK then and John, you're going to mechanic school soon so do your best"

"will do"

and so whenever the team wasn't racing they were learning how to be samurai and as it turned out their previous training as police officers and task-force members cut down on training time significantly. Three months later it was the end of the racing season and for the first time the rest of the team had their blades with them in the car plus the two mechanics were also armed, then again one of the mechanics was John, who had passed his tests within two months and became the second mechanic of the team because it turned out that the reason he made level one mechanic was because of photographic memory. Finally the race ended in Maria's win and right after that they went to where the  
Red Halls clan used to be based. On the planet

"so this is where the Red Halls were based"

all they saw for quite some time was graves and upon seeing them Maria asked a valid question

"John, how long did it take you to do this?"

"a day and a half Maria and that was with the help of the locals who kept us supplied"

"I see, well come on we need to salvage what we can and get back to earth"

"right"

and so they quickly finished the salvage operation but before they left Jody surprised the team by turning around and saluting the graves and also saying a phrase that, if they were still alive would make the elders proud

"we'll carry on the tradition of the Red Halls clan and take down the Mesanic Brothers once and for all, I promise"

and with that they leave the planet and go back to earth. A few days later everyone was practicing their swordsmanship while discussing how they would choose trainees to become samurai

"after all we're only samurai because of the fact that the Red Halls clan needs to rebuild and we have two samurai with us already"

"valid point Jack and let's not forget the fact that the president's main security force are also samurai now"

"there's also the fact that accelerated training was easy for us because of our previous experience as either officers or because of being in the task-force"

"hey Maria I forget, is there anything in the laws of the samurai that dictate how we're supposed to pick potential new samurai?"

Maria thinks for a bit

"not that I recall, John?"

"sorry Maria but I'm also drawing up a blank when it comes to the laws and the rules and codes can't help either"

everyone stops what they're doing and sighs


	10. Chapter 10

"we're also forgetting our racing careers/jobs"

"so how are we going to rebuild the clan then?"

"not sure I'm honestly not sure but we'll find a way"

Jack thinks about something then

"hey John, we never did have a chance to ask how mechanic school went seeing as how you graduated withing three months"

"sure we can talk about how things went, and also why I was graduated way earlier then most people

_several months ago at mechanic school_

"John I know it's your first day but you wrote on the sheet that you have some experience with cars and ships"

"yeah, I was around mechanics a lot and they taught me a few things, it also comes from having to fix your own car a few times as well" (thinks) " _thank goodness the clan had a cover story already in place otherwise I'd be flustered trying to come up with one myself_ "

"all right then come with me class"

they go over to a car and they are shown what the instructor did to the car to test John out

"OK John your job is to fix the car to the best of your abilities"

five minutes later John comes out from under the car a bit dirty but happy

"I've done the best I can, hopefully if this were for real, it would last until the person could get it to a real mechanic, however, it depends on the geography of the planet they're on and also if they were a race car driver"

"what do you mean by that John?

"simple teacher I just did what's called a patch job"

"all you did was a temporary solution?, but you said that it would last until it gets to a real mechanic"

"I also said it depended on the geography of the planet and if they were an F-Zero racer"

"so it's like flipping a coin"

"yep because not all patch repairs last until you can get it to a mechanic"

"how do you know this?"

"simple I've done plenty of patch jobs that have failed on me before I could get to a mechanic, either because the damage was too severe or other factors prevented it"

"well you pass this test, that's for sure"

well it soon turned out that the class didn't appreciate the fact that a newbie was better then some of them. So the teachers for his own protection taught John away from the class and he excelled so they graduated him after only three months in the school

_present_

"and that's what happened"

"well that's interesting, one would think the class would enjoy having someone who actually knows what they're doing in case they need help with something"

"part of it I think was that they probably thought I was boasting about my skill when the teachers talked later that day about where to put me then anything"

well they would never get a chance to discuss further about how to pick new recruits because during individual training Maria was suddenly thought dead because her car was blown up and with evidence of her inside when it happened. Meanwhile with Maria she suddenly got a serious shock because a few elders along with many younger members had actually survived the Red Halls massacre

"you're alive, but how?"

and so once two points of identity confirmation happened everything was told to both groups. Those that knew of what actually happened at the massacre told Maria the truth while Maria told them about the happenings of the outside world

"so how are we going to escape?"

"we elders will provide the distraction so you can escape"

"but..."

"no Maria listen to us once more, you are the leader seeing as how you and John have been free the longest and we are old, too old to continue much longer, allow us one last meaningful battle so you can be free"

"very well elder I bend to your wisdom"

and so soon enough the battle for freedom began and Maria and several of the younger ones escaped but the elders and a few younger ones did not. Once at a safe spot Maria got to a radio

"all right now this is going to sound a little weird, especially if I have to use a code but bare with me alright?"

everyone agrees

"big leader to little leader come in, big leader to little leader come in"

"this is little leader big leader is dead go away"

"big leader to race leader do you copy?"

"this is race leader get off our frequency that you've managed to hack into"

Maria tunes it to the all Red Halls frequency

"all right this is big leader to all Red Halls members listen carefully before you do anything red light, green light, zoom, zoom, disabilities not a show, slish, slash who is that?, slish, slash must be the savior of the race"

there was silence for a bit and then

"but how your car exploded with you in it?"

"sorry little leader but I was actually abducted but there's more, we have a samurai code 15 with two points of confirmation"

"come down to new HQ and we'll get the third point of confirmation done there"

"copy that"

she turns off the radio

"all right now let's go home"

"Maria what was all that about on the radio?"

"that was a code guys, a code we made up shortly after my racing team became samurai"

"why'd you need to make a code in the first place?"

"because of the dangers of our job...look you know how I told you guys I was part of a task-force?"

"yes"

"well this task-force is a racing task-force that deals with criminals on a regular basis. Once the team became samurai they were put into much more danger, thus we ended up making codes for different situations"

"and this is one such situation right?"

"exactly"

"but is the code just nonsense that you come up with to identify yourselves or do they actually mean something more than just an identifier"

"they actually mean something, like for me I actually saved a race once because of my samurai skills and of course you all know about my breathing apparatus"

"so the codes identify that your alive and also who it is that's talking"

"except for the team captain, John and I"

"what do you mean?"

"easy we're known as big leader, little leader and race leader respectively"

"than the code?"

"it lets them know if your alive or what situation you're in for the three of us"

well three days later they were at task-force HQ and after fingerprints were taken it was confirmed that they were indeed several of the "dead" Red Halls members and then Jody speaks up


	11. Chapter 11

"it lets them know if your alive or what situation your in for the three of us"

well three days later they were at task-force HQ and after fingerprints were taken it was confirmed that they were indeed several of the "dead" Red Halls members and then Jody speaks up

"I guess this means there's going to be another big meeting between the samurai clans?"

"nope, just a regional meeting, the other clans can easily spread the word out to the rest while we figure out what we're going to do next"

and so three days later the regional samurai clans met and found out why the Red Halls clan was the one to call the meeting

"well this is interesting, the entire clan was supposed to have been slaughtered except for Maria and John, the rest of the clan didn't join in until after a  _gronthal_ recently"

"well some of the elders and younger ones actually escaped death, instead we were captured in the hopes of spilling samurai secrets and also so one by one we would despair, while the Mesanic Brothers got their revenge"

"well we'll spread the word around that there were more survivors then previously thought"

"thanks"

and so the task-force and recently found Red Halls members go back to HQ where they have a very important discussion that they agreed could wait until after the meeting

"so what do you guys want to do?, will you stay and help find new recruits or leave and form your own group?"

what Jody and the others didn't know was that while in captivity the entire group talked and decided that should they be rescued they would inform any possible survivors of the Red Halls clan and then stay with the clan that saved them or depending on just how small the Red Halls clan was return to the clan and help rebuild the clan by teaching, not to mention helping the police as well

"we stay, we'll teach and help the police and this task-force in any way possible"

"all right then let's start out by seeing who would be worthy for training and go from there"

and so soon enough they had several new recruits and at the same time the new racing season began

"so we train the recruits while you guys race"

"yes but don't forget"

"don't worry we know, if we hear anything suspicious we'll find a way to inform you"

"right and remember your best bet is to let John know first after all he's just a mechanic, he doesn't have to necessarily pay attention to the race track"

"right"

well that day everyone got a huge surprise because while Rick had surpassed Captain Falcon he soon passed on the title to someone else that he felt was worthy and returned to the task-force, the problem was one of the races had been sabotaged and Captain Falcon was the primary target and believed dead. Just like Jody's brother Andy had been thought dead for a time after going after Blood Falcon. But one of the racers announced was Captain Falcon, though the announcer was honestly surprised at that

"how is he alive?"

"not sure but hopefully he'll give the task-force some answers afterwords"

"well looks like Zoda is part of the race as well"

"we'll have to keep an eye out for him then"

"let's race"

three laps in everyone finds out the horrible truth of Captain Falcon's return, it was actually a member of Light, a recent criminal group that was getting quite annoying to the samurai clans, though not as annoying as the Mesanic Brothers were


	12. Chapter 12

"Jody with your permission?"

"sorry Maria but we need the president's permission for this"

"fine I'll back off for now, however if they try and attack someone don't think I'm just going to stand bye"

"what do you mean by that?"

"wait and see Jody, wait and see"

well the Light member tried to crash someone Maria was right behind and Maria prevented a full on crash by getting between the racer and the guardrail

"this guy would be getting it if the real Captain Falcon was here"

"why is it that he looks like the real Falcon yet doesn't act like him?"

"not sure"

"you know I would even go for Blood Falcon if I could, yeah the guy is creepy looking like Falcon, but hey at least you know it's coming"

"true, now come on there's still two more laps to go and someone from the team has to win"

"right"

well Lucy won that round but the judges didn't mind that Maria had lost, after all even though she didn't win she had put her all into it even after her car got busted up saving another person. After the race

"you're right Maria I did see what you were going to do if the guy tried anything"

"yep it was my plan all along to prevent serious crashes if he tried anything"

"but still if he's pretending to be Captain Falcon where's the real one?"

"that's actually a good question"

"well let's think back to the race first"

"we'll do it at HQ this location isn't secure enough"

"right"

well they get back to earth and a secured location

"OK let's go over all the facts, last year one of the races was sabotaged and Captain Falcon was believed killed because of it"

"now then this is before Maria joined the task-force"

"but I did hear about it in the racing community when it happened"

"everyone that could searched but only his helmet and vehicle were ever found"

"so what happened in between where a member of Light got those two items?"

John speaks up

"and also what happened to Captain Falcon?"

what no one knew was that Light and the Mesanic Brothers were working together and Captain Falcon had found that out before he even knew about Maria. He had been planning on telling the task-force after the race but then the act of sabotage happened and he was taken captive by Light and that's also when he found out about Maria and later on John. He had actually made several escape attempts but all of them failed and he was now permanently chained to the wall except for eating, and even then he was watched very carefully so he couldn't escape.

"if I could get out of here I could warn the intergalactic police of what these guys are planning next"

suddenly the leader of Light came to him

"well Falcon I have some interesting news for you"

"what?"

"as I have probably already told you the rest of the task-force has become samurai, what I haven't told you, mainly because it's recent, is that there were actually more then two survivors of the Red Halls clan"

"what?"

"yes and apparently they're with the task-force and also doing what all samurai do and are helping the police if they can"

"good for them"

well for defiance he was beaten again and deprived of food for the next three days. Three days later the Light finally made a critical mistake. They let the real Falcon under close guard go to the next race under disguise. What the Light forgot was that Captain Falcon was a fighter, had to be to help fight criminal organizations, he also kept spare uniforms at every race track just in case. He even had the Berserker cloak that Andy had used for a short time, and that's the exact disguise he used to get to the president

"how is Berserker here when a few years ago he was Captain Falcon in disguise?"

he reveals himself to the president's samurai guards and fortunately their samurai training kept them from fainting

"this is going to be interesting"

"does the president know that the Captain Falcon that's racing is fake?"

"yes, however you have been thought dead since the sabotaged race"

"I know but those explanations are for the president's ears only"

"right"

and so after a quick word with the president the guard got the real Captain Falcon in to see him

"so care to explain what happened?"

"yes a group called the Light has teamed up with another group called the Mesanic Brothers"

he temporarily stopped when he heard the president growl at those two names


	13. Chapter 13

"go on Falcon"

"any how I found out about the team up and was going to warn the task-force but was captured before I could do it"

"and they still don't know those two groups are together, and neither do any of the other samurai clans"

"no they don't, I was the only one who knew this"

"what do you know of the outside world?"

"only what little they tell me"

"how about we trade information and tomorrow you race as Berserker since this planet is a double race"

"and reveal myself after the race or during?"

"during, uh you  _do_  have two cars right?"

(chuckles) "yes ever since I lost one during a normal no criminal activity race"

"and they can both project Berserkers car?"

"number 77?, oh yeah they can do that"

"perfect so for now I guess you remain hidden"

"can you at least inform the Red Halls clan?"

"what about the task-force?"

"weren't you told they're part of the clan?"

"oh yeah guess I temporarily forgot"

"no problem Mr. President it happens to everyone"

and so they trade information during the race and the next day the task-force was wondering about why Berserker had returned

"maybe it's the real Captain Falcon"

"you mean like my brother?"

"exactly"

"he could also be the anonymous person that told the president what he told us after the race"

"well either way we'll probably find out soon enough"

"yeah"

and half way through the race Berserker did indeed reveal himself to everyone there and the announcer declares shocked

"two Captain Falcon's?"

"could one of them be Blood Falcon?"

Maria quickly gets on the clan radio

"guys keep calm the car that suddenly turned into Captain Falcon's car is the real Falcon, the other one is the Light member"

"and they've teamed up with the Mesanic Brothers right?"

"exactly, now then how are the recruits taking seeing half the group doing their job?"

"some of them have realized that they don't want to lose a teammate like that"

"and others?"

"they're wondering when they can start gathering information for us"

"well their training is almost complete so they'll have to choose on their own ultimately"

"right"

well the race finally ended and the fake Captain Falcon was taken down while the real Falcon and the task-force got together to really talk. Five hours later

"it's really great to have you back Falcon, do you know what the Light and the Mesanic Brothers are planning next?"

"no I don't, they've taunted me with things they're going to do in a specific race but the last taunt was around a week ago"

"well the other samurai clans are working on getting information on the Mesanic Brothers as well, and we've sent out our warning so now all we can do is wait and hope nothing happens to them"

well three months later they finally took down the Light because of some mistakes they made and while they weren't bad enough for cryo they  _were_  put into maximum security prisons on separate planets

"now all that's left is the Mesanic Brothers"

well the Mesanic Brothers decided to just do one final battle after the season ended and that battle was crazy. In the end the Mesanic Brothers lost their leader and over half their forces while the Red Halls only lost two rookies to the leader. Five years later the Red Halls wasn't as big as they used to be but they were definitely an active clan again, those not part of the task-force either helped train new samurai or did undercover stuff to help the intergalactic police but they always checked in every two months and the task-force always made sure to have at least three members part of the Red Halls clan if not everyone, and Captain Falcon would work with the task-force pretty often as well


End file.
